Knife guide



Feb. 16, 1960 w. F. BAYERS 2,925,110

KNIFE'GUIDE Filed May 23, 1958 V/ III II i v// L9 4 36 "w ii I 28 INVENTOR.

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HIM BY ia 0 L c v a r-vozuEvs United States Patent KNIFE GUIDE William F. Bayers, Fair-field, Maine Application May 23, 1958, Serial No. 737,313 1 Claim. (Cl. 146-156) This invention pertains to a knife guide and, more specifically, to a knife guide used to perform various cutting operations on sandwiches, or the like.

The primary object is the provision of a knife guide wherein cocktail type sandwiches may be quickly, easily and safely cut from a larger sandwich,

A distinct advantage of the construction here employed is that means are provided, not only for segmentally dividing the sandwich, but for trimming the peripheral edges thereof as well.

A'further object resides in the provision of a knife guide of this general type comprising a handle portion; a plurality of spaced, radially depending legs; the spaces between the legs providing openings for the insertion of a knife blade.

Among the further objects and advantages of this invention is the provision of a knife guide of the class described supra, the knife guide being non-complex in construction and assembly, inexpensive to manufacture, and durable in use.

Other and further objects and advantages will become readily apparent from a consideration of the following specification when read in conjunction with the annexed drawing, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates, in perspective, a knife guide constructed and assembled in accordance with the teach ings of this invention, showing the guide in place on a sandwich, and in phantom lines, a knife blade being used to trim the edges of the sandwich;

Figure 2 is an enlarged detail medial cross-sectional view of the guide, the section being taken substantially along the vertical plane of line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and,

Figure 3 is a detail cross-sectional view, partly in elevation, the section being taken substantially along the horizontal plane of line 3-3 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Proceeding now to relate the several figures of the drawing to a more detailed verbal description of the device, reference numeral is utilized to connote the knife guide in general. The guide 16 comprises an elongated body portion constituting a substantially cylindrical handle portion 12 having an enlargedhead 14 and a lower end 16, and the guide 10 may be formed of metal, plastics including tempered plastics, or of any other suitable materials.

Depending from and formed integrally with the lower end 16 are four radially spaced knife blade guide or connecting elements 18, 20, 22 and 24 which are of substan tially identical configuration, and hence, a description of one is a description of the others.

As is seen in the drawing, each of the guide elements includes a pair of identical perpendicularly disposed sub- 2,925,110 Patented Feb. 16, 1960 stantially congruent triangular walls 26, 28 which terminate adjacent their respective base ends in an integrally formed substantially rectangular sandwich engaging plate 30, the plate 30 being substantially perpendicular to both of the sectional members. The inclined outer side edges 32, 34 of the members 26, 28 include lower ends 36, 38, respectively, immediately adjacent the marginal edges of the plate 30, the lower ends being disposed at substantially right angles with respect thereto.

The guide elements 18, 2t 22 and 24 are arranged and disposed in such a manner so as to place the wall 26 of one of the guide members 18, 20, 22 and 24 in spaced confronting relation relative to a wall 28 of an adjacent guide element to form a pair of continuous right angular intersecting knife blade slots 40, 42 therebetween.

In operation, the guide 10 is placed over the uppermost bread slice 44 of a conventional sandwich designated at 46 with the plates 36 thereof engaging thereagainst. Thereafter, a knife blade 48 is placed in abutting relation relative to the lower ends 36, 38 of a pair of adjacent guide elements 18, 2t), 22 or 24, and the adjacent outer edges of the plates 38 and is operated to trim the bread crusts from the sandwich. Thereafter the knife blade is inserted sequentially in the slots 40, 42 and is operated to effect downward cuts resulting in quadrantally dividing the sandwich into smaller cocktail-type sandwiches of substantially equal sizes.

Having described and illustrated one embodiment of this invention in detail, it is to be understood that the same is offered merely by way of example, and that this invention is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A combination sandwich holder and guide for cutting a sandwich into four equal square portions, said holders and guide comprising an elongated body portion constituting a handle and having a lower end, four guide elements extending axially from said end and arranged symmetrically of the body portion, each of said elements being composed of two walls arranged in right angular relationship, said walls having contiguous inner side edges disposed in a plane substantially coinciding with the longitudinal central axis of the body portion, said walls having outer side edges sloping downwardly and outwardly from a substantially common meeting point at the end of the body portion and said walls having lower end edges, a base plate connecting said end edges and disposed in a plane transverse to the walls, said walls having right angularly related inner side faces and outer side faces, said plate lying between the inner side faces, the plates of said elements being disposed in coplanar relationship and having flat lower faces adapted to commonly bear on the sandwich, said plates having a pair of outer, right angularly related edges, said outer side edges of the walls of each element being disposed in vertical planes at their lower ends and positioned perpendicular to the plates and said lower ends of the edges being disposed in the same vertical planes as the outer side edges of the plates, and said elements having the outer faces of the walls disposed in spaced-apart, confronting relation to provide guide spaces for the passage of a knife.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,057,250 Sanger Oct. 13, 1936 2,277,888 Segal Mar. 31, 1942 

